The cast and crew of Westworld explore ‘the Cradle’ in this behind-the-scenes video

During the latest episode of Westworld, “Phase Space,” we explored a new area of Mesa HQ: the Cradle, an eerie server bay where all the hosts’ brains are stored. Bernard (Jeffrey Wright) and Elsie Hughes (Shannon Woodward) visit the Cradle to try and find out why the system keeps thwarting Delos’ attempts to regain control of the park.

In this week’s behind-the-scenes video, the cast and crew explain why the Cradle was created, how it was designed, and how it might be important in the future. Watch below:

As Nolan tells it, the Cradle exists so Delos can save itself time and money should any of its hosts be damaged or lost. Their brains, after all, “are the result of countless hours of refinement.” That’s a lot of work hours and a lot of money. In case of accident, every host is backed up on the Cradle.

Also, we now have a name for the red spheres inside every hosts’ head: “brain pearls.” These “three-dimensional neuro-plastic device[s]” serve as a host’s “brain, soul, everything that’s in them,” according to production designer Howard Cummings. “It’s downloaded into these golf ball-sized information data holders.”

The importance of the brain pearls cannot be overstated. “No matter what happens to your body, you can be born again as long as we have these pearls,” co-creator Lisa Joy says. In any case, that term is way more elegant than “brain balls,” which is what we’d been calling them.

In “Phase Space,” Bernard has his brain pearl removed and placed into the Cradle so he could find out who or what is really behind the chaos in the park. Once inside, he discovered…Dr. Robert Ford (Anthony Hopkins), or rather his digital self, hanging out inside the servers. As Jonathon Nolan puts it, “What else is in the cradle is something we’ll come to discover.” We can’t wait.

Westworld season 2 has four episodes remaining, beginning this Sunday night with Episode 207, “Les Ecorches.”

Next: Westworld season 2, Episode 6 Recap: “Phase Space”

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